Poliʻahu

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title: "Poliʻahu" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hawaiian-goddesses", "sky-and-weather-goddesses"] description: "One of the four goddesses of Snow in Hawaiian mythology" topic_path: "general/hawaiian-goddesses" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poliʻahu" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary One of the four goddesses of Snow in Hawaiian mythology ::

In Hawaiian mythology, Poliahu (Cloaked bosom or temple bosom) is one of the four goddesses of snow, all enemies of Pele. She was thought to reside on Mauna Kea, which if measured from the seafloor is the world's tallest mountain.

Legends

Aiwohikupua

Poliahu met the alii Aiwohikupua on the Eastern slope of Mauna Kea. The two fell in love and Aiwohikupua took Poliahu home to his native Kauai. There Poliahu discovered that the alii was already betrothed to a princess of Maui. Poliahu left in dismay, but managed to first curse the betrothed. She first chilled the princess of Maui to the bone, then turned the cold into heat. Finally, the princess gave up and left him. Later Poliahu similarly cursed Aiwohikupua, freezing him to death. The four goddesses are defined by their otherworldly beauty. Poliahu is noted as Hawaii's most beautiful goddess.

Poli{{okina}}ahu and Pele

Poliahu also engineered Hawaii's Hāmākua Coast.

Poliahu mingled with humans on the East slope of Mauna Kea. One day, while hōlua sledding with mortals, Poliahu was joined by a beautiful stranger who challenged her. The stranger had no sled, so she borrowed one to run against Poliahu.

In the first run, Poliahu easily passed the stranger. Graciously, Poliahu exchanged sleds with the stranger, before winning again. On the third run, the stranger tried to prevent Poliahu from winning by opening lava streams in front of her, revealing herself as the volcano goddess Pele.

Poliahu ran towards the top of the mountain, reeling from Pele's attack. Once she regained her composure, Poliahu threw snow at the lava and froze it, confining it to the island's Southern end. To this day, Pele is said to rule Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, but must submit to Poliahu on the northern end of the island.

References

References

1. [ ihttps://keolamagazine.com/culture/myths-legends-mauna-kea/ Myths and Legends of Mauna Kea]
2. Hobart, Hi‘Ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani. (2022-11-11). "Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment". Duke University Press.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::